When a system that is supposed to empower people begins to kill them, it's time to go back to the drawing board...
THERE are lies, damned lies, and statistics, as Mr Clemens said. And we've seen since that statistics can be interpreted to almost anyone's advantage. But in the case of the roads deaths that have been logged since the start of the holiday season, the numbers speak for themselves.
Accidents involving minibus taxis accounted for 25% of the road deaths. The National Traffic Information Centre says most of these could have been prevented.
"Driver fatigue, speed too high for circumstances, lack of concentration, collisions with pedestrians, unsafe overtaking, and vehicle defects - especially unsuitable tyres - were responsible for most fatal minibus taxi collisions," the NTIC reported.
Now, statisticians would ask, if minibus taxis are responsible for only a quarter of the deaths on the road, surely this means that they are safer than other forms of transport?
There are two problems with this reasoning. Minibus taxis constitute less than 25% of the number of vehicles on the road, so the number of deaths is disproportionately high. Minibus taxis also hold more people than most vehicles, so the number of people killed is higher.
When one includes the deaths and mutilations that have resulted from gang wars between rival taxi associations, it becomes clear that what we have here is a monster that needs to be destroyed.
But how? Minibus taxis form a crucial component of the transport infrastructure of this country.
This is another legacy of apartheid. Minibus taxis came into being as a comfortable and cost-effective alternative to the sub-standard and exploitative public transportation facilities provided to black townships by private and state-owned bus services and by the railways.
The Mercury's Idler columnist used to speak of riding on the Umbilo Road bus. I never got to ride on that bus, but I would watch its sleek blue form and comfortable high-backed whites-only chairs disappearing into the distance, never full. Unprofitable, but subsidised by the ratepayers.
I've only once had to travel on a peak hour train into Soweto, in 1982. Calling it a "Cattle truck" would be to compliment it. We were packed in like sardines. Breathing had to be co-ordinated with the person next to you. And those who were stuffed next to the windows had to function as human safety belts for those who could not squeeze in, and so clung precariously outside the windows.
A mode of transportation to be avoided? Consider the alternative of the Putco buses with broken wooden seats, glassless windows, and equally cramped conditions. An illegal minibus taxi with actual seating and breathing room suddenly becomes a heavenly alternative.
Instead of attempting to put its own house in order, the apartheid government tried to stifle the growing taxi industry. Naturally, support for the taxi industry then became essential for any township resident. So instead of an occasional and preferable alternative, the taxi service became the only form of public transportation in many areas.
Today, the minibus taxi industry has developed into what one astute American financial commentator described as unfettered capitalism taken to its logical conclusion, where rival operators will use any means at their disposal - including assassination - to assure continued expansion of their market share.
The ANC is faced with a quandry. The minibus taxis have been a form of empowerment in the townships. Operators enjoy a relatively high income and independence. There are no government or other programmes that have allowed so much wealth to trickle down to so many people in so short a time.
But this does not hide the fact that the minibus taxi industry is a result of the abrogation of responsibility on the part of the apartheid government to provide an efficient public transportation infrastructure. People are dying as a result. People will continue to die until the present government recognises that this is a problem and takes practical steps to correct it.
For starters, all new residential areas should have a taxi-free efficient public transportation infrastructure before the first occupants move in. This will have to be subsidised, but we will have an immediate payback in terms of lives saved and job creation.
To tackle the problem of existing operations, taxi associations should be given a five-year grace period during which all minibus taxis should be replaced with fuel-efficient 30 seater diesel buses. Loan programmes should be available to assist drivers with the investment. At the end of this period, use of minibuses for public transportation should become illegal.
Why? Well, minibus taxis are an inefficient form of transportation, consuming a higher amount of fuel per passenger than buses and most modern cars. Operators will turn a better profit by upgrading to proper mass-transit vehicles. The rest of the country benefits from reduced hard currency expenditure.
The spinoff is that drivers of the bigger vehicles will require upgraded licences, with more stringent testing requirements, with mandatory retesting at regular intervals thereafter. Their vehicles can be more readily identified for traffic violations, and be required to have regular safety inspections.
Standards for safety, seat belts, noise levels, and lower speed limits can be written into law before the switchover. With better trained drivers and safer vehicles, we will save lives.
So, to our minister of transport: Tell me, Mr Maharaj, what's wrong with this plan?